


Who Am I?

by FlowerOfRegret



Category: Ghost - Mystery Skulls (Music Video), Mystery Skulls (Band), Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: AU If Arthur didn't run, Angst Lewis, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Friends/OT3?, M/M, mention of suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-06-01 00:52:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6494374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlowerOfRegret/pseuds/FlowerOfRegret
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Arthur didn't run when he saw Lewis</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Am I?

**Author's Note:**

> Who am I…?  
> For every person, there is a different answer….  
> But, if you can answer that question….  
> You will never be wrong in any decision you make.

Cornered. Nowhere to run.

Arthur turned to face his pursuer, not ready but without a choice. Lewis towered over him, his eyes, glowing cinders, filled with rage and absolute hatred. He saw the smaller man throw his arms up as if to shield himself from whatever hell he was about to suffer. The specter didn’t care; he was going to make him pay.

**_“Did you really think you could get away with what you did to me!?”_** Lewis hissed, his words dripping with venom. The ghosts’ hair towered into a pink inferno that spread to his shoulders in a horrifying arc.

Arthur just sat there, frozen. Lewis believed it was from fear and only snorted at the others cowardice. _“What? No witty comeback? Even now you can’t take responsibility, you’re so pathetic”_ he spat.

The specter then raised his arm, a purple ball of fire for a hand at the end. He was about to hurl it at the smaller man in front of him, to watch him burn to ash, until Arthur’s face met his gaze. What he saw made him hesitate.

Amber and magenta eyes locked briefly but instead of fear, Arthur’s were full of pain and… resignation? This confused Lewis only slightly.

“I never meant for you to die…” Arthur choked, drawing his knees in, ducking his chin into the collar of his orange vest and trying to make himself as small as possible.

Lewis lowered his arm but remained firm, ready if the spiked blond tried to run again. Part of him believed that Arthur was just trying to buy time but, there was something else. The ghosts’ rage subsided, slightly.

**_“Oh really?! I’m sorry, here I thought you were smart, or didn’t it occur to you what would happen when you PUSHED me off that cliff!?!”_** Lewis exclaimed heatedly, not buying the waterworks Arthur was displaying.

Lewis’s accusations stung. The hatred in every word felt like a physical blow to his heart. Arthur looked up at his once best friend, so many things needing to be said. But every word died in his throat, his voice failing him just when he needed it the most.

But, seeing those glowing, burning, hate filled eyes told the blond that nothing he said now would make a difference. Lewis had his mind set and nothing Arthur could do would change that. Well, there was one thing he could do, but he had to apologize before it happened. He had to set things right before he died.

Then Lewis could move on and be happy... Right?

Tears started to flow down the blond's paled cheeks, his breathing becoming more shallow as he tried to make his voice work. Arthur could feel the start of an anxiety attack but was forcing it down. His eyes were wild now, looking straight out but seeing nothing. Nothing but that horrible memory.

His hands were trembling, clutched at the sides of his head as if to block out some sound that only he could hear, his nails digging into his scalp painfully. Arthur's breathing was forced, shaking, as his whole body trembled uncontrollably.

“Y-you’re right…” he whispered.

He then jerked his head up unexpectedly, causing the ghost to flinch involuntarily.

”IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!” he screamed.

“I was weak!” Arthur's voice increased to a shrill cry, “When we went to that cave… I-I told you I had a bad feeling about that place, but… no one would listen. The further we went in, the worse it got. I… I don’t know what happened, b-but… t-this voice started whispering things, t-terrible things”

“I-I tried to block them out… to gain control, but… I couldn’t. The voice, i-it told me that I could do nothing, that I Was nothing. I-it told me… I-I was weak… and useless, a-and **pathetic!...**  That if I disappeared…, y-you wouldn’t even notice” he looked right into the specters’ eyes.

“I-it went through my memories, altering them… twisting them into lies to further torture me. I screamed, begging it to stop and… it… it laughed….” Arthur sobbed.

Tears continued to stream down Arthur's face. Lewis could see red in the others’ blond hair, blood from pulling on it so forcefully. Seeing the smaller man in front of him like this… the ghost could feel something in his chest lurch painfully where his heart used to be.

“Before I knew it, I was b-being forced to move forward, to-towards you. I cried out to you, calling your name, begging you for help, but… y-you couldn’t hear me. As I got closer… I willed you to turn, to run away. I c-could hear the murder in the laughter. I knew what it was going to do and… and it was going to use me to do it!” Arthur shook his head vigorously as he cried.

“….” The specter was at a loss for words. Lewis had this meeting all planed out; what he was going to say, what he was going to do.

But this… he expected his killer to be running, screaming and begging for his pathetic existence. Not _confessing!_  All of Lewis’s plans began to fade away as he continued to listen to the smaller man before him.

Arthur's eyes screwed shut as if to cancel the memory but he couldn’t escape it. He could never escape it. He mind felt like it was going to explode.

“I s-saw the ledge and… and saw you turn... Y-your face…. I’ll never forget it, your confusion, your panic and… and betrayal. It was like… in slow motion… and I had a front row s-seat. I screamed, I tried to reach for you but… but I was too late. The voice kept laughing as I screamed, cried out your name...”

Arthur's voice coughed and hiccupped, his throat wrecked from the strain. But he had to finish. Lewis needed to know. He owed him everything.  
“It… it made me w-watch you fall… and see... see you di-… b-broken on the stalagmites when you hit. Oh Gods, that sound! Your nice clothes… your favorite purple vest… Red mixing with green.”

Arthur slammed his head on the wall behind him. Lewis cringed at the sound of the impact.

Arthur's voice was a pained whisper when he continued,

“I heard another scream, I thought it was m-mine, but, then I heard Vivi’s! The laughing finally stopped but… then the voice turned its interest to her. I could feel it sifting through my memories, slimy fingers clawing through my mind. I knew what it was going to do, m-make Me do! I looked at the ledge and… and I knew what I had to do. I was going to s-stop myself from hurting anyone else…”

Arthur swallowed thickly, clutching his prosthetic arm now, as if it hurt. Lewis only just now noticed the metal limb.

Arthur continued to sob, “B-but then… j-just as I was about to… to ‘join’ you, a sound s-stopped me. H-horrible t-teeth clamped down hard on my a-arm, d-dragging me from the ledge. I screamed, t-tried to get away…” The blond's voice was stuttering as he continued to quake.

“Th-then... the th-thing was on t-top of me, m-my arm pierced by its jagged t-teeth. I could feel the heat of its breath on my skin"

"It twisted, shaking its head from side to side. I couldn’t feel it… but I could hear the bones breaking, the flesh and muscle tearing in its h-horrible jaws. I kept screaming, even after my arm split from my shoulder and twitched in its te-teeth.”

“T-then..., t-the feeling came rushing back, as if I had been numb the whole time. The pain shot through my whole body, burning and agonizing enough to make me black out. B-but… the pain of what I d-did… did to you, was worse than losing my arm. Those eyes, glowing red. I c-can still see those eyes… a-and hear the screams….”

Arthur opened his eyes and stared up at Lewis, tears still falling, “Next t-thing I knew, I was in the hospital, strapped down and unable to move. They t-told me that you were d-dead but I didn’t need them to say. When Vivi came to ch-check on me, I couldn’t speak. I could only cry, ch-choking on my own guilt… I’m so _pa-pathetic…”_ he spat.

The blond looked back down, unable to look into the ghosts eyes as he continued, “But then… she h-hugged me, as if I deserved it. I… I shook her off and asked her how… how she c-could hug me after what I did to you. She only gave me a blank stare and asked me w-what I meant.”

He stiffened at the memory, “She… she s-said that it was only the two of us in that cave! That… that there w-was no Lewis! I… I couldn’t b-believe what I was hearing. She… she didn’t know who you were or… or t-that you even existed!”

“W-what could I say!? What could I do!?” his voice was desperate.

“I c-can only assume that w-whatever was in that cave erased her memories to further t-torment me so that only I c-could suffer the guilt… alone….” the blond's voice faded into a whisper.

Arthur's shoulders sagged, as if he was being crushed under some invisible force. His eyes closed, forcing more tears down his cheeks. His breathing was frail as if he were slowly suffocating.

“We lost so much that night… and, you lost everything....”

“But you’re… you’re here now. Y-you’re back…” Arthur's voice trembled in awe and despair, his eyes looking up hopefully.  
The blond wiped at his eyes forcibly with his metal hand, “I’m so sorry Lewis, I’m… I’m just so h-happy to see you again” a small, pained smile played on Arthur's tired lips as he glanced at ~~his best friends’~~  the ghost's face/skull before looking to the ground.

Lewis just stared, shocked into silence. Here was the source of his anger, the one who took his life. But, just seeing his murderer like this made him freeze. Seeing the pain and torment on his face, knowing anything he did would never compare to what Arthur was doing to himself, had been doing since that night. He looked so small and frail, like he hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in days, months even.

In the background, a small figure stood. Clad in blue with magenta glasses, her dog by her side. No one heard her enter but she heard the whole thing, and even though she couldn’t remember that night, tears welled in her eyes to see all the pain her friend was suffering. Knowing she hadn’t been there for him when he needed her the most.

Lewis heard a sob and glanced over his shoulder, a pained look on his skull. His ‘heart’ gave a painful twitch at seeing Vivi, her hands holding her scarf to her mouth as tears dripped from her eyes. Mystery had his head hung in sorrow.

Hearing another sob, he turned back to his ‘victim’. Arthur was looking at him. Sitting a little taller, now he got the truth off of him.

Lewis’s hands were shaking, but not from rage, his flaming hair crackled erratically. His voice was soft, slightly begging, _“Is it true? It... it wasn’t you? You… you didn’t want to?”_ The ghost approached the blond huddled on the floor, noticing the way the smaller man flinched.

Lewis grasped Arthur's metal arm and pushed the sleeve up, exposing where metal met flesh, revealing the jagged scars from teeth and claws. If the specter still had skin, he knows it would have paled at the gruesome sight.

“Does it matter…?” the blond whispered, turning his head away, pushing his sleeve back down. Why wasn’t Lewis taking his revenge already?

_“I… I need to know…_ ” Lewis asked again, his voice had a hint of panic in it. He had to know, he had to.

**“It doesn’t matter!** ” Arthur screamed, stumbling out of the specters' grasp and to his feet. “Nothing I’ve ever said or done matters….! Not to you, not to my parents, not to anyone!” his hands balled into fists, trembling at his sides.

Lewis took a step back, not expecting the outburst. Arthur looked pained, desperate, almost like… he wanted him to end his life.  
That’s when the specter remembered something.

When they were still in school, Arthur started avoiding him. The larger boy didn’t realize it at first but his friend was wearing long sleeves despite the warmer weather and had his head ducked lower whenever he talked to him.

It wasn’t until a week later, when Arthur didn’t meet up with him after school that he found out why. A group from the football team had been ganging up on the little guy without mercy and were practically torturing Arthur every day.

Lewis used his size and strength to beat the guys responsible and stopped the abuse. The larger boy was furious. Not just at them, but also at his friend. He had asked Arthur why, why hadn’t he come to him or Vivi about this.

But, all Arthur said was “I didn’t want to bother you…” the same desperate look in his eyes, like he had done something wrong even though it wasn’t his fault. Arthur had the same look on his face when he voiced his objections right before they separated in the cave too.

Lewis didn’t know how to respond to that. Arthur would take suffering over ‘bothering’ his friends with his problems…

How could the ghost even consider that the same, selfless person would want him dead? Could commit murder in cold blood…?

Arthur sniffled, drawing the specter from his thoughts, “Maybe my parents were right…?” he mumbled, “Just useless baggage, not worth anything. They always said I’d mess up and never accomplish anything; they’ll never know how right they were…”

Lewis’ eyes filled with sympathy, wanting to argue but not knowing what to say.

Arthur's stance slumped as the bitterness left his face, “I know… I have n-no right to ask anything of you but… c-could you apologize to Vivi for me?”  
“I-I broke a promise to her. I told her that… that I would never lie to her and… I did… But, it’s fine now, because… y-you’re back… and… and I don’t have to pretend to her anymore...”

Then, in as calm a voice as the blond could manage, “I’m not asking for forgiveness” he stated. “I just wanted you to know the truth.” Arthur sighed and closed his eyes again, “Do whatever you have to do, I’m done.” The frail man then dropped to his knees, his energy spent as he waited for his much deserved punishment.

The specter just stood there, looking at the smaller man as if seeing him for the first time, all the rage and hatred forgotten. He took a step towards him.

A small whimper came from behind him near the door.

But what he did surprised everyone, including himself. He knelt down beside the trembling man and scooped him into a hug. Sitting on the floor and putting Arthur in his lap as he held on tight.

Arthur stiffened at first but, as the ghost settled down on the floor with him, he clung to the ghost's suit and buried his face into Lewis’s purple tie as he wailed.

”I.. I’m so sor-ry Lew-ew…! I’m sorry, I’m sorry-y M’sor-ry-yyy…..”

Lewis sighed deeply and rested his skull on the crown of his ‘friends’ head and began to rock ever so slowly.

Holding him tight he whispered,

_“I f-forgive you… Artie”_

**Author's Note:**

> My first Fan-fiction. I know it's nothing special but I had to get it out of my head.


End file.
